Trust Your Friends
by hatondog
Summary: Tag for Ex Machina. How I'd imagined part of the episode going before it aired.


Trust Your Friends

**AN: This is a tag for Ex Machina. I started it before the episode aired, so it doesn't track the aired storyline. The last scene in the episode (*spoiler*) was annoying—her choice to trust Zane was challenged and she didn't defend him. Instead—once again—she stood there with a "hmm, you're right, maybe I shouldn't trust the guy I've been with in one fashion or another for years" look on her face. It's getting old, IMO…and, while I'm whining, I also didn't care much for her joking response to Zane saying he'd have a hard time getting over losing her. Sigh.**

Jo Lupo dropped her head into her hands and groaned. A call from the DoD was never a good way to start a Monday morning, but this call was particularly jarring coming as it did on the heels of a lovely weekend.

Three days before, Zane had come home then disappeared into the garage without a word. When he returned with sleeping bags and a suggestion that they go camping, Jo hadn't hesitated to agree.

It was the right move. The tension they had both felt since the Astraeus mission ended melted away. They spent two full days with no mention of Eureka, alternate realities or relationship issues. Their nights were spent in relaxed conversations and exploring each other's bodies. When they returned to Zane's house on Sunday night, it was more like coming home than ever before.

But the contentment and optimism that Jo had started the day with vanished as soon as she heard General Mansfield's voice on the phone.

"Lupo? This is General Mansfield. I just touched down at GD. I'm in bringing a team to inspect the equipment seized from the Consortium. It will be sent to impound shortly."

Jo barely had time to stammer out a reply before the line went dead. As she stomped down to the GD rotunda to meet Mansfield, her expression and muttered oaths caused scientists to scatter out of her path.

"No please or thank you. Never mind hello or how is the crew. Just get down here and do my bidding. Jackass."

Normally, Jo's military training would keep her lips sealed against any insults she might want to hurl against an officer. But her patience with the highhanded dictates of the DoD had been stretched thin in the month since the Astraeus crew had returned.

Despite the military's decidedly secondary role in the rescue, the DoD's report to the government had barely mentioned the extraordinary efforts made by Carter, Henry, Jo and the crew members to thwart the Consortium. The lack of credit didn't matter—only a select few would ever know the mission had taken place. But the lack of respect was galling. So it was with barely concealed impatience that Jo awaited General Mansfield.

The wait took longer than she expected. When Mansfield finally appeared in the rotunda, he was red-faced. The functionaries who accompanied him fluttered uselessly at his side as he approached Jo.

"Why is it that every time I come to this godforsaken outpost, _something _goes wrong with some piece of overpriced technology developed here?" he demanded.

"I don't know what you mean. I haven't had any reports of malfunctions this morning," Jo answered.

"I'm reporting one now. The elevator we took from the landing pad stalled on the way down. And whenever we tried to call out for help, it…" Mansfield seemed to think better of explaining further. "It didn't work," he finally finished.

The General's reluctance to provide details of the malfunction apparently didn't register with his assistant. In an excited tone, the man volunteered that not only had the call system not worked, it had responded to its button being pressed by making loud raspberry noises. Mansfield turned to glare at him-fortunately for Jo, who was struggling with the urge to laugh.

"Well, you're here now. If you'll please follow me, we'll go to the lab where the matrix equipment is being stored." Jo turned quickly toward the elevators to mask her amusement.

The trip to Section 5 of GD was uneventful and unpunctuated by disrespectful elevator sounds. By the time they reached the lab containing the matrix mainframe and sensory beds that had been used to suspend the Astraeus crew in a virtual reality, the General had recovered his composure. Which he maintained until the lab doors slid open to reveal an empty space.

The EM shielding equipment constructed by Zane and blue beds used to hold the crew members while connected to the matrix were in place. But the plasma processing computer that created the matrix was gone. The few computer cords and power strips for it that remained were neatly coiled against the lab's walls. It appeared that the equipment removal had been carried out in an orderly fashion. Unfortunately, Jo had no idea who had done it or where the equipment had been moved to.

"Lupo?" the General asked in barely suppressed anger. "Are we in the wrong lab?"

"No," Jo sighed. "I must not have received the manifest for inter-laboratory transfer of the computer yet."

Privately, she thought it unlikely that the move had been approved through normal channels. Fargo and Zane had been working in the lab until late on Friday night. With a spark of anger, she wondered if the weekend camping trip had just been part of a plan they cooked up to keep her away from GD for a few days. But why would Fargo go to the trouble to haul the matrix computer elsewhere, when it had worked just fine where it was?

Neither Zane nor Fargo had been willing to tell her what they'd been doing with the matrix system. That, Jo thought grimly, was about to change.

"General, if you could just wait for a short time, I'll confirm the location of the equipment and have it readied for your inspection," Jo improvised. "I suggest that you visit the GD restaurant in the meantime. You've come a long way and the inspection may take most of the day. There probably won't be time for lunch."

Seeing no alternative, the General accepted temporary defeat. "One hour, Ms. Lupo," he snapped before departing.

Jo did a circuit around the lab. Cabinets with black countertops bisected the space. Looking behind the ones that had supported the matrix processors, she found that the tidiness of the rest of the room was an illusion. Here, broken wires hung from outlets, cables snaked across the floor and screws rested against baseboards. It all spoke of work done for speed rather than care.

Lips pressed together, Jo pulled out her PDA and punched in Fargo's number. She didn't expect an answer and wasn't disappointed. A follow up text was also greeted by silence. Stabbing her fingers at the device, she punched in Zane's number. Her finger hovered over the send button before dropping to her side. She wanted to see Zane without giving him advance notice.

When she entered his lab, his back was to her, attention fixed on a computer screen. Even so, he sensed her approach.

"Hey, Jo."

"Guess where I just came from," she hissed.

"Gotta be more specific. If you mean this morning, I'd say you came-". He stopped short at a shove from Jo.

"Don't. Push. Me," Jo ground out. "The matrix system computer is gone. Which I'm sure you well know. You and Fargo." She stepped between him and the monitor. "What did you _do_? And what the hell _have_ you been doing?" She paused then continued in horror. "Oh, god. You hacked the landing pad elevator to delay Mansfield this morning, didn't you?"

"Just trying to show Mansfield's a proper degree of respect," Zane grinned. Then he gently moved Jo aside. When he pressed a few keys on a keyboard, the monitor lit up. On it, with perfect clarity, appeared an image of Holly Marten. Or what Jo thought was just an image until Holly smiled and waved.

Jo gasped. Zane watched the virtual Holly, a slight smile creasing his face.

"You…you stole the matrix system to make Fargo a _cyber girlfriend?_" she said indignantly.

Zane's smile faded. "No," he said shortly. "The system wasn't stolen, we just needed to pull its files. And I didn't make anything." He gestured to the monitor. "That _is _Holly. Or at least her consciousness."

"No. That's crazy," Jo said, shaking her head. Zane shrugged.

"Believe it or not, it doesn't really matter. Whatever that is, it's a connection to Holly we can't let the DoD sever, at least not until we know for sure what it is."

"I can't keep them from impounding the equipment," Jo said, frustrated. "As soon as the DoD figures out that the files have been copied, they'll impound the system _and _you."

Zane looked at her steadily. "Then we need to make sure they don't figure it out."

"There's no _we _in this, Zane. I can't take part in deceiving the DoD." Jo flinched at the look in Zane's eyes. "You shouldn't be doing this either. If you're caught, they'll throw the book at you."

Zane turned back to the monitor. He spoke to Jo, but his eyes were fixed on Holly.

"If it was you stuck in this machine? I'd do anything to get you out. Fargo deserves the same chance. I'm going to make sure he gets it." Zane's fingers began to move over the keyboard again.

Jo stood as if rooted to the ground, Zane's words echoing in her head. Only the entrance of General Mansfield and a team of uniformed soldiers drew her attention away.

"The last people logged into the matrix database were Dr. Fargo and Donovan," snapped Mansfield without preamble. "Lupo, take him into custody for questioning."

Jo didn't respond. She looked slowly from Mansfield to Zane and back.

"What are you going to do, Jo?" At Zane's quiet question, she seemed to come to a decision. She reached for his arm and he stiffened, expecting handcuffs to follow. Then her hand slid down to grasp his for a brief squeeze.

"That won't be necessary, General. Zane had nothing to do with the disappearance of the matrix computer," she said firmly.

"How do you know that?" Mansfield fired back.

"Because GD records indicate that the computer was removed from storage early this morning. Zane wasn't anywhere near GD at the time." She turned to Mansfield. "I know that because he was with me this morning. And last night. And all weekend."

Mansfield's eyes widened. His eyes tracked Jo's hand into Zane's. He struggled for a response but nothing came. It was Zane's smirk that finally jolted the General out of stunned silence.

"You and Donovan?" he said incredulously.

"My personal life has nothing to do with this investigation beyond confirming Zane's whereabouts this morning," Jo said stiffly. Zane squeezed her hand.

Mansfield's mouth opened then snapped shut. When he'd regained an air of authority, he spoke again.

"Fine. But we still need to find the system. And Dr. Fargo," he said. Jo nodded.

"I'll find him," she said.

"See that you do," Mansfield answered. "Alert me as soon as he's been found." He turned on his heel and left the lab without a backward glance.

Jo sagged with relief when he'd gone. She turned to Zane to find him smiling at her broadly.

"Guess we're in this together after all," he said.

"Yeah, and we'll both go to prison for it if we're caught," she answered. He leaned in close and brushed his lips over hers.

"You can share my cell, JoJo. I guarantee the time will fly by," he whispered. She rolled her eyes and pulled back.

"Where is Fargo? And where is the system?" she asked urgently. "We've got to warn him."

"No need," Zane answered confidently. "They're somewhere the DoD will never think to look."

"Which is?" asked Jo.

"SARAH," Zane said. With a flick of a button, he powered down his computer. "Let's go."

**AN2: This ending is abrupt, I know. But since the episode answered the "what happens next for Holly" question for now, I'm calling this story finished at this point.**


End file.
